Laning Tip: Aggressive pushing is not a bad thing

For the longest time I was tired of the ~3:00 ganks top and getting ganked in general so I would sit back and let the wave push into me. Turns out, that's probably the 2nd most wrong thing you can do. You don't have lane advantage if you sit back like that. You have 0 room to answer anything your opponent does when it comes to roams and whatnot.

Now the problem isn't that you're getting dying to a gank for not playing safe early. You're dying cuz you teetered in the neutral zone, which is the #1 worst thing you can do. If you're pushed in you're at a disadvantage, sure, but if you're sitting in the middle of the lane playing neutral you're actually more open to ganks than if you just shoved the lane.

Why is this the case? Well when you shove you have tons of minions on your side, dissuading both the laner and the jungler from wanting to 2v20 you and your minions. On top of this, if you shove early you can ward for an incoming gank as well. You also deny minions in the process.

And this is why shoving > cowering.

For early game make sure you've shoved in before 2:40, since that's the approximate time when the jungler will show at the earliest. Make sure you've shoved and warded before then.

This goes for bot lane too (also allows your support to take a LOT more control of the lane), however does not apply to mid lane unless you're Taliyah or something and just instaclear minion waves.